Overview on project
This is part of the Weather Station One project, a complete and modular weather station. The design of the system has been driven by a number of requirements:
- collect all common weather channels including temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, rain, wind speed and direction, illumination / sun hours, ground humidity
- modular design allowing one to implement part of it, or extend the range of sensors
- high depth of production; DIY as much as possible
- long range transmission support - with the point of measurement far from home
- integration into a home automation system
- functional, easy to print, and beautiful 3D design
When considering a project like this, please be aware that even with all designs published, it will be some work to do. This includes not only 3D printing, but carpentry work, soldering / electronics, and software in addition.
The parts published are made up from:
- Part 1: Central Station. This is the part all sensors are connected to. It is battery / solar powered to allow placing it in the best place to measure data. It sends data collected using a HC-12 / 433Mhz band (up to 1 kilometer distance) chip.
- Part 2: Base Station. This is the Central Station's counter part. It receives data using another HC-12 chip and is dispatching it to our home-automation system. In addition, it hosts a web server allowing direct access to weather data.
- Part 3: Temperature (and other) sensor. This sensor is designed to sit in a proper Stevenson Screen / Wetterhütte. The current version measures ambient temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure using a digital sensor. It is connected to the Central Station.
- Part 4: Rain Gauge. This is a rain gauge collecting rain and feeding it into commuting buckets. The number of commutes is measured using a reed contact triggered a bucket-moved magnet. It is connected to the Central Station.
- Part 5: Wind Vane and Anemometer. Probably the most complex printing part measuring 16 wind directions and wind speed. Similar to the rain gauge, it is a mechanical part. Wind directions are measured using either 8 reed contacts, or an magnetic angle measurement sensor. Wind speed is measured by a single reed contact closed every time the anemometer wings do a full rotation. It is connected to the Central Station.
- Part 6: Stevenson Screen / Wetterhütte. This part is not detailed further because we have built it based on a tutorial published by DWD (Deutscher Wetterdienst). As the tutorial has been removed from their site some time ago, you can find it as PDF file in Part 1: Central Station.
- Part 7: optional Battery Pack. The solar module and charger chosen come with a mount for a 14500 sized Lithium battery. Depending on the power consumption of the Central Station (and sensors) you may want to use an external Battery Pack.
- Part 8: Software and Electronics. This part is published on Github.
- Part 9: Solar Panel Mount. This is a solar panel mount as used currently. It allows adjusting the elevation to optimize generation for Winter and Summer seasons. Mid term it will be replaced by a solar tracker following the sun azimuth.
For your convenience, I have created a WeatherStationOne collection including all but parts 6 and 8.
End of overview common to all parts.
Part 1 - Central Station
This is basically a box hosting an ESP32 microcontroller, a HC-12 chip, a solar charger module, a battery, and a number of connectors. The electronic parts and the software implementing central the station logic (includes pulling / collecting data from sensors) are described on github. The circuit diagram is included for illustration.
The STLs provided allow both a single color, or a multicolor print. This later can be done easily using the M600 command for tool changes and the configuration of a printer with two (virtual) extruders in PrusaSlicer. I assume there are similar technics for other printers / slicers.
I have decided to make the box from a bottom, center and top part. This allows access to circuit boards soldering from both the bottom and the top during assembly.
The box is not water proof and supposed to go into the Stevenson Screen.
Printing configuration
- Layer height 0.2mm
- 0.4mm nozzle
- 15% infill
- White and black PETG filament
- place top and bottom parts surface on the printing bed
- automatic support (from building plate only)
Other parts needed
- 1x Waveshare Solar Power Manager
- 1x rechargeable Lithium-ion battery matching Waveshare power manager
- 1x solar panel 6 - 24V, 3 watts or more
- 1x ESP32 Developer Board
- 1x HC-12 board
- 1x 10 uF Elco
- 2x 10k Ohm resistor for voltage divider / battery monitoring
- 1x 10k Ohm pull down resistor for anemometer
- 1x 220 Ohm resistor for LED
- 1x green LED 5mm
- 5x MiniDIN (PS/2) 6 pin sockets
- universal circuit boards for ESP32 and sockets
- 8x M2x8 screws (boards)
- 12x M3x10 screws (housing)
- DC socket in case an external battery box is added
Fighting humidity
With the weather station in operation for some years, I need to add some remarks that may help you prolonging the live of electronics in this and other parts:
- While protected by the Stevenson Screen, all electronic parts will suffer from humidity
- The sensors (like Wind Vane) exposed to the weather and sitting outside of the housing suffer even more
- I recommend protecting the circuit board and all soldered / screwed connections with isolation spray available for electronics (sample from German Amazon store)
- Instead of using universal circuit boards and add many wired connections, consider using a PCB; this will reduce the number of wires significantly
- use pure cooper wires only, select a bigger diameter than usual
I have created a PCB matching the housing presented here. As I have some copies left, I can offer them for 10 EUR plus shipping. Contact me in case you want one. A picture is included in the photos section.
Closing
This is another free 3D model made available for you. Designing, testing, preparing, uploading and maintaining my models is effort. In case you enjoy them, please send a donation using the coin button in the top right. Thanks a lot!
Harry
